The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bracelets

Sisterhood of the Traveling Bracelets
This activity was fashioned after the book and movie, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
We obtained a set of 4-5 black bead bracelets, which were to be worn by one girl for one week and then passed on to the next girl. A small journal accompanied these traveling bracelets.
To launch the activity we had a class activity (we had 8 Mia Maids in our class) where we explained the program and had the girls come up with a set of rules that each girl had to honor during her week of wearing the bracelets. We had lots of input from the girls and after some discussion settled on 9 rules. As leaders we guided the girls, encouraging them to develop rules and guidelines that were in harmony with YW values and that could be reasonably followed by each girl during the week she had the bracelets and journal.
Here are the rules our girls decided upon:
1. Bracelets must be worn at all times, except when bathing, swimming, or sleeping.
2. No picking your nose while wearing the bracelets!
3. Wearer of the bracelets must act like a lady and maintain a positive attitude.
4. Treat the bracelets with utmost respect.
5. No one outside of the Sisterhood may remove and/or wear the bracelets.
6. Complete each goal (explained below) and record a summary of your experience legibly in the journal. You may use the front and back of each page.
7. Be sure to date each journal entry.
8. Do not record personal information regarding others when recording experiences in the journal.
9. Bring both the bracelets and the journal to Church when it is time to pass them on to the next girl.
Goals to Be Completed While in Possession of the Bracelets:
1. Reach out to someone who appears to be having a bad day.
2. Have a “Be Thou an Example of the Believers” moment and share your experience in Church the following Sunday.
3. Write at least 2 heart-felt Thank-you notes to others.
4. Take a shower with your socks on!
We drew lots to determine which girl would start and the order of the girls to follow her. Each Sunday the Mia Maid Advisor/YW Presidency Member made sure the bracelets and journal were passed on to the proper girl.
After 8 weeks we had a culminating class activity where we deconstructed the original bracelets and had each girl use some of the beads to make her own single bracelet. We had also made copies of all the journal pages and gave each girl a copy of the complete journal. They had fun reading what their classmates had written. We then took a picture of the girls with their hands intertwined and then concluded by having each girl read/share her favorite experience from the week she had the Traveling Bracelets.

It was a great activity–uplifting, inclusive, and positive.